Shoprite Group opened its first UNIQ standalone clothing store at the Canal Walk shopping mall in Cape Town (South Africa), and more are to follow.

The shops won't allow cash payments, and also won't have cashiers - customers will use self-checkout machines.

Shoprite says the emphasis is on quality clothing.

The self-checkout is expected to speed up the purchasing process, enabling staff to focus on other in-store priorities. Each store will still have at least nine employees, the group said.

"The world is moving towards becoming cashless. About 90% of our customers use credit cards only," Michael Coles, Shoprite Group's general manager of clothing, told News24.

Including this store, the JSE-listed company is scheduled to open a total of eight shops in the next month. Coles was employed to run the project about a year ago. He was previously head of Pick n Pay's clothing business.

"I went overseas to look at concepts. We did not just want to have another offering which was already available in SA. We want to sell quality clothes at very good prices," he says. "We wanted to keep the choices simple so consumers can easily find what they are looking for," Coles said.

Prices range from below R80 for kids' T-shirt, to almost R900 for puffer jackets.

"The gap in the market we fill is for high quality at a reasonable price. We use natural fibre and track where the cotton comes from, for example. Our markups are low to offer our customers the best price. So, it is not cheap, but it is good quality," says Coles.

The clothing are mostly in single colours, without logos or other designs.

"The gap we saw is for well-made basics with a good fabric at a reasonable price. We developed some fabrics with the suppliers - for example, using higher-end yarn," she said. "Everybody is chasing fashion, whereas we are offering everyday modern basics. Our range is casual, so comfort is important."

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The brand will sell.. is it not shoprite?

.

This is awesome.

Trolls 🇳🇬, show your faces.

You said SA companies would collapse without Nigeria. But Shoprite is opening 100s of stores in SA 🏆🇿🇦💥

WannaHowzit:
Trolls 🇳🇬, show your faces.

You said SA companies would collapse without Nigeria. But Shoprite is opening 100s of stores in SA 🏆🇿🇦💥

West Africa is far from you guys. I think you should concentrate on Southern Africa. Any Nigeria you see in South Africa, chase them back to Nigeria.

Surprisingly, no UNIQ store has been opened in Johannesburg yet.

Just around Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Mpumalanga.

Ok

That is awesome.expecting it here in our country too.

They should come and collect their name back from this Nigeria company they gave it to biko. They are really messing up the brand name. Imagine seeing gangs of toilet flies everywhere around and inside their food showglass. . Ewwww.

kokoA:
They should come and collect their name back from this Nigeria company they gave it to biko. They are really messing up the brand name. Imagine seeing gangs of toilet flies everywhere around and inside their food showglass. . Ewwww.

Nigerian trolls come see my truth oo 😭😭😭

After leaving Nigeria, Shoprite has expanded in SA were people have money. Where are the negative people, I'm waiting for them. Plenty of facts in my photos album waiting to decimate you damn trolls 🔫🔫🔫😈

I wonder why mind44 has allowed me to played in this field for so long 😂😂😂

This is an innovative concept that shows why South Africa controls intellectual property and brand marketing far better than most other African Countries.

UNIQ South Africa is a copy concept of UNIQLO, the Japanese fashion chain, that is growing rapidly with branches across Africa to include Nigeria.

Unlike Nigeria and other African nations, South Africa did not allow UNIQLO trade in the Country, in shops or online, perhaps because Shoprite always had the intention to set up it's own UNIQLO spin-off that would be completely South African owned.

It would pay taxes in SA to be used on South Africans. That's the way to build a great economy and nation.

In Nigeria we seem to have no interest in innovative and Nigerian-owned start up company with capacity to dominate the African continent or even beyond.

These things are no-brainers because the clothing could be made in Taiwan, China etal and branded for sale in Africa through African retail outlet businesses.

Kudos to SA. I am.working on something similar and it isn't particularly difficult but specialist knowledge, to match any available anywhere else in the world, is particularly key.

You have to know close to what the best know to build a pan-African business or one capable of trading outside Africa. This is why SA have dominant brands like MTN , Shoprite etal.

BloomingDale:

West Africa is far from you guys. I think you should concentrate on Southern Africa. Any Nigeria you see in South Africa, chase them back to Nigeria.

Lol, people just open mouth waaaa and whatever comes off, it is!

They should chase Nigerians in South Africa?

So says a little honorary bimbo who probably doesn't even know the road that leads to neighbouring state, knows nothing off what it takes to migrate, yet fanning provocation and xenophobia here.

WannaHowzit:
Surprisingly, no UNIQ store has been opened in Johannesburg yet.

Just around Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Mpumalanga.

gauteng is Johannesburg. I was there in 2020

Niccoloimhotep:
gauteng is Johannesburg. I was there in 2020

Not really, Gauteng is Johannesburg, Pretoria, Vereeniging and Ekurhuleni.

Looks exactly like the Japanese UNIQLO.

haybhi1:


Lol, people just open mouth waaaa and whatever comes off, it is!

They should chase Nigerians in South Africa?

So says a little honorary bimbo who probably doesn't even know the road that leads to neighbouring state, knows nothing off what it takes to migrate, yet fanning provocation and xenophobia here.

If Nigerians living in Nigeria can be told to go back to their states, isn't it fair for South Africans to do the same to Nigerians? Huh? Where were you when even indigenes who didn't look like the usual were prevented or intimidated from voting? So na South Africa xenophobia you dey criticise 🙄

WannaHowzit:
Surprisingly, no UNIQ store has been opened in Johannesburg yet.

Just around Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Mpumalanga.

I'm really curious, why is the unemployment rate so high in South Africa and the wider region? Considering the sophistication of the economy, diversification and breadth of the economy.

WannaHowzit:
Trolls 🇳🇬, show your faces.

You said SA companies would collapse without Nigeria. But Shoprite is opening 100s of stores in SA 🏆🇿🇦💥

See this deludedddd troll. Nah your obsession with anything related to Nigeria go kee u one day. High BP is cheap. You don't have to pay for it 😂